Myth or Legend?
by LoveGarden22
Summary: When brother and sister venture into the jungle they meet the mysterious jungle man everyone has been talking about, they go on the adventure of their lives.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: The Jungle

"Andrew, look! There it is! Africa..." said my little sister jumping up and down at the bow of the boat.

"Yes, there it is." I replied half-heartedly. I didn't really want to go to Africa in the first place; I just went because I wasn't living on my own yet. I would rather stay in England, meanwhile my eight-year-old sister Elizabeth had been jumping up and down ever since our father mentioned the word "Africa".

She had always been an animal lover. Back at home she had several pets of many kinds, to which she gave equal care and attention to all. I would have thought that she didn't want to leave them all, but she was very much ecstatic when father said he was taking us on a boat to Africa on an expedition. I asked her about it and she said that her pets would be fine under the maids care, and that in the mean time she wanted to experience something new. She was very adventurous for her age.

However, I was more interested in my studies. I was obsessed with my school work and I hoped to be accepted into Oxford University soon to pursue my career as a doctor. I was only sixteen and I could be receiving acceptance at any day. I have known some of my peers to be accepted at ages proceeding my own.

Yet here I was on a boat on my way towards a jungle full of many wild beasts that I've never heard of, while my sister can probably name them from memory. When I was told of the voyage I had offered to stay at home with the maid, but our father, Mr. Benson, told me that with me studying so hard to venture off to school we hardly spend any time together as a family and this might be our last chance. Then there was Elizabeth, who also wanted me to come. So, I finally gave in to their wishes and joined them on the expedition.

At that moment our father joined us on deck and interrupted my thoughts. "Ah, the jungle... Your mother would have loved to be here with us today." He said breathing deeply. Ah, our mother, yet another thing to guilt trip me into coming. Our mother was a lover of flowers and nature, and our father constantly tells us how I get her curious mind, and how Lizzy gets her loving nature towards nature.

Our boat pulled up towards the dock, and as the foreman tied it off our family stepped off. I felt a strange sense of nausea from being on the boat for so long, but again, my sister didn't seem to feel a thing as she skipped down the gangplank and ran up the boardwalk towards the trading post. I hadn't the foggiest idea where she got all that energy from.

I gazed at the trading post, "So that's the place we're going to be staying?" my father nodded in my direction, "Lovely." I said sarcastically, as I felt my nausea rise up again.

"Don't worry, son. We should only be here no more than a week, maybe two at the latest." My father assured me, patting me on the back.

"Two weeks?! Here? Well, that's just great." I said clutching my stomach,

My father put his arm around my shoulders and guided me towards the trading post, "We should probably catch up with your sister, she must be giving the owner a hard time."

As we walked towards the building my father asked me, "Tell me, Andrew, if didn't want to come so badly, then why did you?"

I sighed, and admitted, "You did have a point. I study too much; I thought it might be nice to have a break. Plus, an adventure like this would look good on a college application. Besides, Lizzy wanted me to come."

We walked inside the building to see Elizabeth arguing with a tall man with black hair and a moustache. I assumed he was the owner,

"Will our room have a view of the jungle?" She asked him,

"'Zat all depends on which room you get." The man told her in French accent, when he saw us enter he seemed quite happy to see us,

"Hello, my name is Renard Dumont, and I am the owner of 'zis fine establishment. How may I help you?"

"Sorry if my daughter has been any trouble to you." My father apologized,

Mr. Dumont turned back towards Elizabeth who was glaring at him, "So 'zis is _your_ child?" he asked hesitantly,

"One of them, this is my son, Andrew." He said gesturing to me,

"Nice to meet you," I said no longer feeling nauseous, "Do you happen to have any books at this place?" I asked,

"Oh, a scholarly fellow?" Mr. Dumont noted, Elizabeth punched me in the arm. "You would be glad to know that I sell many fine books at my trading post."

"We can think about that later, Andrew." My father said glaring pointedly at me, he turned back to Mr. Dumont, "Right now, we need a place to stay. I'll be venturing out into the jungle tomorrow."

"But of course, you all can stay here. I have a few rooms open to guests."

Elizabeth went back to questioning Dumont, "Is there a chance that we will see Tarzan?" Back in England, after we had planned to go to Africa, Elizabeth had heard the Legend of Tarzan the Ape Man and became absolutely infatuated with it. She hasn't spoken of anything else on the entire boat ride.

Our Father and I groaned, "Elizabeth we talked about this, Tarzan is a myth." I told her, "It's physically impossible to grow up in the jungle without dying in the process."

"Besides, you won't be coming out into the jungle with me." Our father added,

"Why not?" She asked shocked. I was a little shocked myself. I mean, I was relieved that I didn't have to go in there, but what was the point of coming on this vacation if we were just going to stay in the trading post.

"The Jungle is far too dangerous, and I need you to keep your brother company." He explained, I chuckled to myself at that comment. Sure I would be staying out of the jungle, and I would need company, but it was Elizabeth he wanted to protect by keeping out of it. I was pretty careful.

"Now, if you'll excuse me." He told us, as he left to go back to the ship. He probably forgot something. After he was gone, Dumont turned to Elizabeth.

"I was going to say that Tarzan is indeed very real, and he would protect you from the dangers in the jungle." Elizabeth was overjoyed with the news, meanwhile I just shrugged it off. He was obviously saying that so he wouldn't crush her childhood dream. It was a good thing she wouldn't be going into the jungle to find out the truth.

**A/N: I will be including Tarzan later into the story. In the meantime, what did you think of Andrew and Elizabeth? Tell me in the reviews.**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: The Trading Post,

The next morning, I was in a wonderful mood. Sure, we were staying in a rundown shack on the coast of Africa, bordering a savage wasteland. However, the trading post was the closest thing to anything we would find in England. It had running water, food, and a fine assortment of books for my pleasure of reading. Plus, I would not even have to step foot in the jungle.

It was hard enough to sleep in this place. The air was hot and muggy and there was a consistent buzzing of animal noises coming through the window at night. There were no cars or commuters like there were back home, but at least there I could sleep without the fear of being attacked. So, I did not get much sleep that night.

When I woke up, I tried to look on the bright side of things. I mean, we were here now, might as well accept it. I got up and dressed enjoying any comfort I could find and relishing in the idea of staying put. I was the last one to awaken, so I joined my family at breakfast.

My family, I soon discovered also had trouble sleeping, but for different reasons than mine. They could not sleep from excitement. So, naturally they slept better than I did. When I came down to the shop they were already eating breakfast without me. It was almost as if I had not come at all. Yet, when Elizabeth saw me her eyes gleamed and I realized coming on this trip was worth it.

She ran over to me and gave me a hug, "Andrew! It is so good you are awake now! Maybe you can talk some sense into father." She said, and I had absolutely no idea what she was talking about.

"Whatever do you mean, Lizzie?" I asked her,

"He will not listen to me!" she complained, I joined them at the breakfast table. They were serving tea, fruit, scones, all the comforts of home. However, they were serving mangos, which I had never had before and I was reluctant to try. I ended up trying them after all, and they tasted sweet, naturally, similar to an orange or an apple. I stirred my tea and turned my attention on my father.

"What the devil is she going on about, father?" I asked him, he waved the comment away dismissively.

"Oh, 'tis nothing of importance, my son. It simply concerns my expedition this afternoon, to which you two shall not be attending." He said glancing at Elizabeth.

"What is she trying to convince you to let us come along?" I asked him sipping my tea while holding back a chuckle,

"Yes, that," my father said and I almost choked on my tea, but then I swallowed and let him continue, "But she is absolutely horrified at the idea of me going into the jungle with arms. I am simply trying to protect myself, but she says that it is indefinably wrong to even consider shooting another animal."

"Well, it is." She said matter-of-factly, "You said you were going into the jungle to study the animals, not shoot them! Besides, I do not see why Andrew and I cannot come along. I would love to see the jungle, besides, how dangerous can it be?" she said, and at that comment I felt the urge to spit my tea.

"How dangerous?!" I asked exasperated, and I put down my tea. Obviously, I was not going to finish it the way this conversation was going.

"Father is right, Liz, he needs to protect himself!" I told her. She looked at me with a look of shock, before storming away in a huff. Father and I looked at each other for a moment before saying, "She'll get over it." At the same time. Elizabeth did not stay mad for long.

After breakfast, I went to browse a selection of books Mr. Dumont had in stock. It seemed to lift my mood a bit, since he had books from all over the place. Mostly the books were from England, but he also had books from France, Germany, Switzerland, America, Scotland, all over the place! I almost felt myself giggle over the selection of books. I finally decided on reading a book from Scotland on the nervous system and sat down at a table.

Soon afterwards, Elizabeth and our father came back down. I risked a glance from a book to look at them. Elizabeth was dressed like she was at breakfast, except her hair was a little messier like she had stuck her head out the window in our room upstairs. Our father on the other hand was dressed for an expedition. He was wearing traveling clothes. He carried a journal in one hand and a musket in the other. Elizabeth was clinging to his shirt and begging him to drop the gun.

"Please Daddy!" she pleaded, "Do not bring the gun, let me come with you!" she said. He shooed her off him, "No, Elizabeth." He told her sternly, and then he turned to me.

"Andrew, I am leaving." He told me,

"I noticed." I told him, my eyes not leaving my book.

"Did you now?" he asked skeptically, "Anyway, I will try to be back for tonight. Make sure your sister stays out of trouble." He told me. I groaned, _Great,_ I thought,_ the impossible task_. "Oh, alright." I told him. With that, my father was about to leave, before Mr. Dumont stopped him.

"Before you go, Monsieur, I do hope you will be paying for all zis?" he asked,

"I will pay you when we leave." He told Mr. Dumont sharply,

"Very well then," Mr. Dumont said, "Oh, and one more thing Monsieur..." he said stopping my father once again, "When you are in the jungle, I do advise you do not shoot any of the animals. Tarzan...he really hates it when people hunt in the jungle." He said,

Father and I groaned at another mention of Tarzan, but Lizzie jumped up and down, "See Daddy, you do not want an angry ape man coming after you! Leave the gun here when you go on your expedition!" she said hoping to suede him. Father shook his head, and strapped the gun onto his back,

"Tarzan is a myth!" he said, before heading out the door.

"I do wish that the message would get through his head faster." Said Mr. Dumont after he left,

"I know what you mean." Lizzie said shaking her head. I rolled my eyes at the two of them. I was apparently the only competent person in the room who did not believe in fairy tales.

I thought it would be hard keeping Lizzie in line, but she did not seem to be much trouble. Every time I looked up from my book she seemed to be gazing wistfully out the window. I was half through my book before she spoke again.

"I do not like this Andrew." She told me with a pout. I put down my book to listen to her, "Do not like what, Lizzie?" I asked her,

"Father is in the jungle with that gun! I am so scared, that soon I am going to hear a gunshot from the jungle, and then some poor animal is going to be hurt or dead, and it will be our father's fault! I will never be able to look at him the same way again." She told me,

"Liz, if he shoots an animal it probably would mean that the animal was trying to hurt him." I tried explaining to her.

"Animals never attack without good reason! Only Leopards and Panthors and Jaguars would ever attack you unprovoked, and that is only if they are hungry! All the other animals, the rhinos, elephants, gorillas, they only attack if they feel threatened! They most certainly will feel threatened if Daddy walks into their homes with a gun on his back!"

"Um...don't you think they will feel threatened just by him being there?" I said trying to come up with an argument. It was trying to change Elizabeth's mind. Once her mind was set on something there was simply no changing it.

"I do not think so. Most Animals leave each other alone. Even if they did if I was with him maybe I could convince the animals that our father was of no harm to them. I mean, animals love me!" she said. I let out another groan, this was getting ridiculous. How could my sister convince a charging Rhino that our father was harmless?

"No need to worry, young mademoiselle. Tarzan makes sure that no harm comes to man or beast in the jungle." Mr. Dumont, who had clearly been eavesdropping, told her. You would think that the mention of the mystically Tarzan, the jungle protector would be enough to shake off her feelings, but no. The mention of Tarzan just made her feel worse.

"Tarzan! I almost forgot about him! What if he sees father out there? What if he thinks Daddy is a hunter and hurts him?" she asked frantically,

"Liz, I am sure that if Tarzan saw our father he would not be able to comprehend who he is. Someone who grew up in the jungle, must not be very smart." I told her humoring her notion,

"All the more reason to be worried! If Tarzan does not understand, he might jump to conclusions!" Elizabeth said anxiously,

"What conclusions?! That our father is a strange looking ape?!" I asked exasperated, but Liz was not listening to me anymore. She jumped up from her seat, "I have to go save Daddy." She said frantically while running out the door.

"Liz, wait!" I yelled running after her. Oh well, at least she had lasted a few hours. It was my job to keep Liz out of trouble, but the only way I could do that is if she stayed where I could see her.

She ran out behind the trading post and straight into the large expanse of trees, ferns, and strange animal noises. The sight of it all made me stop in my tracks. Elizabeth stopped the same time I did, many feet in front of me, maybe just a foot into the expanse of shrubbery.

"Lizzie," I said nervously, "Come over to me...slowly." I said fearing for her safety. She turned to me with a sense of urgency,

"Hurry up Andrew! Our father's in danger and we need to save him! Are you coming or not?" she asked,

"Um...uh...eh...ah..." I said fumbling for the right thing to say. I did not, under circumstances want to venture into the jungle. I was terrified of that place, and I was not an animal person as much as Elizabeth was. However, I did not want her to go in there alone either. Yet, Elizabeth had trouble seeing that and assumed I wanted to go into the jungle as much as she did.

She did not wait long for me to come up with answer. While I was still thinking about how to explain myself to Elizabeth, she turned and took off farther into the landscape. When she did that, I had no choice but to follow her. I did not want her to get hurt or worse, and I feared that Lizzie was in more danger than our father was.

**A/N: That's it for now, I'm thinking the next chapter is the one where they actually see Tarzan for the first time. That's going to be an egg on Andrew's face. Stay tuned.**


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